


What You Fear

by bizarrebird



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Bromance, Crack Pairing, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Slice of Life, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 09:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bizarrebird/pseuds/bizarrebird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An immunity to fear toxin isn't everything it's cracked up to be. For one thing, it's sort of false advertising. It can still hit you. A little dose does nothing, but a big dose... well, it can send you right over the edge. Some people find this out and spend the next few weeks near comatose. Others aren't so lucky.</p>
<p>Guess which Jason Todd is?</p>
<p>Hint: He's never been very lucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Fear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nygmatech (Wagandea)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wagandea/gifts).



> So, I have the weird inclination that Jason Todd could have a fabulous bromance with Jonathan Crane. This is what happens when one of my friends indulges such things...

It had been a long time since Jason had been hit with fear toxin. Like a really, really long time. Like so long that it seemed like a lifetime. Because it was. Of course, living on Crane’s couch whenever Talia kicked him out got him a little bit of it almost constantly, so he was kind of immune. Kind of being the important phrase there. A little dose of the stuff wouldn’t do a thing. He could shrug off a little puff without as much as a twitch.

Big doses got more of a reaction.

The fight had been stupid. Crane had needed a little help handling some drug runners on the south end, just a few more than he really wanted to deal with. Jason, Good Samaritan that he was, showed up guns blazing.

He crashed through the window, feet first, hitting the ground in a roll, popping up and clocking a big ugly one right in the face. Having gotten Crane’s message marked “URGENT: PLEASE ASSIST YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING FREELOADER” Jason hadn’t had time to get together his typical vigilante finest. Quickly, he found Crane’s ice blue eyes glaring at him from across the room and a smile appeared beneath his quickly slapped on domino.

The Scarecrow could handle himself fairly well in a fight, easily neutralizing anyone who got close to him. Unfortunately, these drug dealers weren’t particularly smart or tidy, leaving tons of beyond hazardous chemicals lying all over the place. Crane, on the other hand, was smart enough to know mixing the fumes of his toxin with whatever noxious gases were leaking from the shoddy containers could not end well. Given that Crane practically oozed the stuff, his moving about too much probably wasn’t the best idea either. So, he was isolated to one corner of the decrepit building and giving anyone who approached a reason to fear the Scarecrow.

Jason, on the other hand, had no worries of spontaneous combustion, so he was able to move freely through the throng. About half of them were down by the time he fought he was through to Crane. Grinning at him, Jason fired off another could of shots into the feet of any who dared approach. “Miss me, gorgeous?”

“Took you long enough to get here, Todd,” Crane said a little testily, burlap mask not covering his annoyance in the slightest. “I was about to just light a match and let the whole place go up. You really couldn’t find a better time to get caught in traffic could you?”

“Always a charmer, Crane,” Jason retorted, rolling his eyes and firing off a shot to deprive an approaching gunman the use of his left hand. “I was kind of in the middle of something when you called. Big idiot on your left.”

Crane ducked smoothly, several bullets embedding themselves in the wall behind him. He nodded, waving Jason off with one hand. “Yes, yes, I’m sure you think whatever you were doing was very important. Please don’t bore me with the details, Todd, focus your tiny brain on shooting the big scary drug dealers. Incoming on from the window.”

“I see him.” There was a yell and then a thump from a high window and Jason shook his head. “You are such a bitch. Why do I put up with you?”

“You have a burlap fetish. It is really a very serious problem, Todd; you should probably talk to someone about that.” Crane whirled around in what could only be called a ballet twirl and stabbed an oncoming idiot in the stomach with the needle like protrusions from his glove. The trick to making them so sharp was needles. What made them really deadly was the toxin inside the needles, but they were really some quality barbs, so that bit was negligible.

Nodding, Jason incapacitated what appeared to be the last three in the building. “Right, figured it must be something like that. Damn you and your fashionable costume, Crane, got me all hot and bothered now.”

“Do try to restrain yourself,” Crane said, nodding sagely before untying and slipping his mask off, movements almost unnaturally smooth and controlled. He shook his head slightly and ran a hand through his hair, dark curls plastered to his head in the late summer heat. Looking about the carnage, he frowned. “About how many do you think you killed?”

Jason shrugged, tucking his guns back into the holsters hidden in his jacket. Sparing the prone bodies on the floor he made a slight face. “I dunno, tried to go non-lethal for most of them. I’m trying this new thing where I don’t kill generic scumbags; guy’s gotta really tick me off for that.”

"Going straight then? Shame.” The Scarecrow sighed, plucking at his needled glove, inspecting the syringes pressed to his fingers. He frowned a little at one of them, but said and did nothing. Apparently he determined the hairline fracture in the glass to be of little importance for the moment. Most likely just an impurity he had over looked, nothing to be done about it now. Turning his attention back to Jason, he shook his head and patted the younger man’s shoulder. “Not killing, appearing overdramatically to save the day, you’re turning into a regular hero, Todd. It’s disgusting.”

“I know, right?” Jason said, making a face and squirming a little. “It’s like I can feel the bat cooties crawling into my pores.” Turning his grimace into a cocky grin, he shrugged off Crane’s hand. “Thought you’d appreciate less killing though, easier to stay out of the news, right?”

“Give me a moment; I’m still reeling over the fact that you used the word ‘pores’ correctly in a sentence.” Crane pressed a hand to his temple, calm, cool, ridiculously pretty face looking notably distressed. He shook his head despairingly even as he moved to examine a carton of what looked like liquefied toenail clippings. “I just don’t know what the world is coming to. Next you’re going to stop living on my couch and start dating respectable men.”

“I bought you that couch.” Jason pouted as he tugged off his jacket, already starting to overheat in the late afternoon blaze. He set it down neatly on what he sincerely hoped was an empty barrel that leaned against one wall. A few minutes later, he would come to realize just how stupid it was to leave his guns there as well.

“That was only after you set the one before it on fire,” Crane reminded him as Jason moved to his side.

Rolling his eyes, the redhead waved the words away. “Details, thing was a fire hazard way before I got there.” He paused, green eyes flicking over the contents of the building. It looked like it had once been an apartment complex, but the middle had been removed, though not very well. Now the floor and walls were stained with mold, blood, and all manner of chemicals. Most of those same chemicals were stacked in heaps around the room, some piles so high they looked seconds away from toppling over. “So, we gonna torch the place or let the cops handle it?”

For a moment, Crane said nothing, eyeing the contents of the building critically. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I believe we had best dispose of it. Even with Gordon in charge, the police have a habit of letting these things slip through their fingers. I wouldn’t want to have to clean up this mess twice.” Glancing at Jason, he cocked an eyebrow. “I trust you have a few charges? I would like to get it over with quickly.”

Jason grinned and began rifling through the overly large pockets of his pants. “You know me; everything I’m wearing is rigged to explode.”

Crane’s perfectly maintained eyebrow went up again, lips curling into a slight smirk. “Everything?”

His only answer was a wink as Jason pulled several small black squares from his pockets. Tossing a few to Crane, he nodded at the nearest corner of the building. “We’ll start there and just set ‘em up all around. Looks like this place is pretty flammable as it is, should go up no problem. Just gotta add a few extra in each corner to take out the support.”

“Agreed.”

Jason blinked at him and frowned, surprise evident on his face. “What no corrections about the building’s structural integrity?”

The older man made a face like he had just swallowed the contents of the container he’d been examinging. “You’re doing it again, those aren’t words you should be able to pronounce, please stop it.” Shrugging, Crane turned one of the charges over in the fingers of his ungloved hand. “No, I believe these should be strong enough to overcome the idiocy of your plan, correct terms aside.”

Sighing, Jason shook his head and moved to begin placing the tiny explosives. “You know, one of these days you’re going to have to admit that I passed your psychology class, so I can’t be a complete moron.”

“I will find out how you cheated on that, some day,” Crane retorted smoothly over one shoulder, pointedly moving just a bit more quickly and precisely than Jason.

Scoffing, Jason held up his hands in surrender. “You got me, I was banging the professor.”

Crane frowned a little, brow creasing ever so slightly in thought. “No, I was sleeping with the blonde with the anxiety problem in your class. Always had to go for those students, much less likely to let it slip out than those with father issues. They tend to be more eager to please as well.”

“Damn you’re a kinky son of a bitch,” Jason said, sounding almost a little bit impressed. Of course, he was fairly sure Crane was kidding and had never slept with a student in the short time he was a professor… but then again…

He continued to ponder the matter as they worked their way around the building, placing the miniscule black boxes at key points, casually stepping over the prone bodies that they assumed were all unconscious. Crane was of course planning on having Jason move them after they were through, giving him the job for overlooking it in the first place. Meeting up at the other side, Jason offered his hand for a fist bump to celebrate a job well done. Crane just stared at him one eyebrow high above the other. “And this is why you are not allowed to use those big words.”

“You’re such a fucking buzz kill,” Jason said, grin drooping into a pout as his hand fell back to his side.

Tilting his head to the side, Crane offered a thin smile. “It’s part of my charm.” He glanced about the room, for a moment, cold eyes settling on the door. “I trust you have a remote detonator for these, so we had best leave before you set it off accidentally.”

Jason clicked his tongue against his teeth, arms crossing over his chest. “You really have no faith in me? Why do—shit, Jonathan, move!” Not giving Crane time to realize why he had suddenly gone crazy, Jason sprang forward, knocking them both to the ground as bullets occupied the place his head had just been.

Alright, so maybe assuming all the thugs would stay unconscious long enough for their plan to go off without a hitch had been rather stupid, but not thinking to remove their guns was downright idiotic. Which was why the thug was aiming Jason’s own guns at them, because of course they would end up in the exact opposite corner of the building, and of course they would be too busy snarking at each other to notice the slightest rustle of fabric.

The thug could have been easily dispatched, but when they hit the ground, several things happened. Having been shoved from the front, Crane hit his head rather hard, leaving him a bit dazed. He shut his eyes, trying to clear the spots from his vision, so he didn’t actually see the next part so much as hear it. At least Jason hadn’t landed on most of him, just his hand, which hit the ground with a resounding smash as the syringes at his hand were shattered. Of course, he wore protection on his arm, should such a thing ever happen.

Jason did not.

So when the shards of glass cut through the thin fabric of his T-shirt and into his shoulder, he sucked in a rather sharp breath of pain. And that was when the world became very strange looking for one of them. For the other it was still just dark and kind of painful. The ache in his head encouraged Crane to remain on the ground, even when the slight weight on his chest was removed and something started screaming.

His eyes snapped open when he realized it was Jason. Rolling to a crouch made the world spin a bit around him. By the time Crane had blinked things back into focus, it was already far too late for him to do anything to save their attacker, not that he really wanted to in the first place, but watching the man’s body hit the ground after his head was very unpleasant. And yet Jason was the one screaming.

The younger man was breathing hard between ear splitting cries of rage and pain, arms flailing about wildly, like he was digging or maybe swimming. Though Crane couldn’t see his eyes, he knew they were blown wide behind his mask, fear throwing reality out of focus. For a moment, Crane could only watch, something he would later blame on the bruise at the back of his skull, unable to move an inch as Jason clawed at his own arms and hair.

Getting Jason to stop was rather tricky as the younger man was quite a bit stronger that he was, but he managed, though most of it was rather awkward and embarrassing so he chose not to remember it.

Sometime later, Jason came to, blinking slowly at the late afternoon sunlight. Someone had removed his mask at some point, the light unfiltered and a bit too bright for his taste. His arms felt weirdly heavy and his shoulder hurt. For some reason everything smelled like strawberries. Maybe he had a concussion… from something. Jason slowly eased himself up on his elbows, squinting to try to bring the world into focus.

“So, you’re alive then?”

Jason managed a little half smirk for Crane, who sat cross-legged on the ground next to him, long limbs positioned almost too neatly. He gave his fingers and experimental wiggle, wincing at a slight twinge of pain. “Looks that way, but if you’re here, can’t quite rule out this being hell and you being here to torment me forever… but I guess that’s how things go when I’m alive too, so whatever.”

“Charming,” Crane said with a flat smile. His face was as calm and composed as ever, but there was something just a little… off.

Blinking at him, Jason frowned. “What’s the matter?” He paused and glanced around them, suddenly realizing that the amount of sunlight meant they were outside… and suddenly very far away from the building they were supposed to blow up… which was now a smoking crater, several yards away. “Also, what the hell happened?”

Crane shrugged a little too casually. His eyes flicked away from Jason and his hand twitched minutely on his knee. “You knocked us out of the way when you saw one of the men try to shoot, but you broke the canisters of toxin and inhaled a great deal of it. I managed to incapacitate you with the help of a few of the others that had been feigning unconsciousness. They were surprisingly cooperative once you decapitated the one that tried to shoot me. I had them drag you here and tie themselves up in that warehouse,” he said, nodding at a large building a few feet away. “Then I fished the detonator out of your pocket, which was a lovely experience for all involved and finished the job you botched. Shortly afterwards, you woke up and I began explaining it to you, which of course brings us to—”

“I think I get the idea,” Jason said, holding up one hand to stop him. Alright, so that explained the freak show he’d been stuck in for a while… and why there was blood on his hands and arms, but no cuts. There were a couple weird scratches, but they didn’t look super serious. He looked around suddenly and frowned. “Where’s my jacket?”

Crane, who had been watching him closely, let out a deep breath through his nose and rolled his eyes. “Look at your pillow.

Jason did, eyes lighting up as he grabbed the leather and tugged it into his lap. It looked fine, though one of his guns was missing, probably blown up with the building. Oh well, there were more where that came from

“You’re welcome.”

He looked at Crane and grinned. “You wouldn’t have done it if it took any effort.”

Weighing this, Crane gave a slight shrug. “Fair enough.”

Laughing, Jason tucked it under his arm. It was still far too warm to actually wear it, but he wasn’t about to let it out of his sight again. He looked at Crane, meeting his eyes a little awkwardly. “So, you’re okay then?”

“Perfectly fine. You owe me five syringes by the way, those didn’t come cheap you know. And I would appreciate a small fee for making me remove my own equipment from your shoulder. That was really very inconsiderate of you.” There was the slightest hint of a smirk playing around Crane’s lips, tone clearly teasing, but there was still something a little off about the way he was looking at him. Jason was used to the other man staring like a creeper, but not usually at him, and not usually quite like that.

Still, Jason just groaned and rolled his eyes. “Put it on my tab, doc. You know I’m good for it.” He paused to stretch and yawn. “Okay, your crazy gas officially wrecked me. I need to go pass out on our couch.”

“My couch,” Crane correctly instantly as he always did when Jason made the ridiculous assertion that something he bought was his.

Jason flicked his leg. “Just help me up you colossal prick.” He made grabby hands at the doctor until he smoothly stood and held out one thin hand with a sigh and dramatic eye roll. Grabbing his hand, Jason hauled himself up and then promptly began to fall right back down.

Eyes wide with slight panic, Crane threw out an arm to try to catch him. He realized his mistake as soon as he saw Jason’s impossibly wide grin. Pulling back and collecting himself with surprising speed, Crane didn’t even twitch when Jason jabbed a finger in his face. “Ha! I knew it!”

“What exactly did you know, Todd?” Crane asked, voice slightly icier than usual. He removed Jason’s hand from his face with a harsh swat to the younger man’s wrist, but that did nothing to shrink his grin.

“You’re worried about me,” Jason said sounding far too pleased with himself. “I did something on fear toxin that seriously freaked you out, and you don’t know how to deal with it.”

“… You did tear a man’s head off with your bare hands.”

“Your boyfriend does that on a daily basis,” Jason said, waving the statement away almost uncaringly. He would worry about the drug pedaling scumbag when he was washing the blood off his hands. “No, there’s something else, come on, just fucking tell me.”

Crane looked at him for a very long moment. His shoulders moved slightly with a silent sigh, eyes flicking away, unable to meet Jason’s. “The Joker does do things like that on occasion, but you are not him. You work so hard not to be like him that… I can’t imagine what sort of thing you were seeing that made you…” He trailed off, hands tensing slightly, only the slightest signs of emotion slipping through the cracks. “I’m sorry, Jason, what you’ve been through… no one should have to relive that.”

Blinking, Jason frowned, brow furrowing slightly. “That’s seriously what all the weird is about?” He moved to scratch his head, but stopped about halfway, realizing that might not be the best idea given the state of his hands. Letting his hand drop back to his side, Jason shifted a little uncomfortably and shrugged. “It’s really not that big a deal… but… thanks.”

“Of course.”

“… Can we go back to cursing at each other and not talking about feelings please?” he asked, one eyebrow rising slightly above the other. Jason had never been very good at all the touchy feely crap, that was Nightdouche's thing. He was much more comfortable never talking about anything ever, something he had inherited from batdaddy dearest. Feelings made him itch, he was actually fairly sure he was allergic.

Tilting his head to one side, Crane tapped one long finger against his chin. “Cursing is beneath me... but this is a little unusual.”

Jason rolled his eyes, because of course he couldn't go four seconds without reminding him just how intellitgent and proper her was. Still, being belittled was better than the alternative. “Is that a yes?”

“I suppose," Crane said, with a little half shrug, still every inch controlled and poised now that he had gotten that pesky concern for others out of his system. 

“Cool…. You wanna make-out when we get back to your place?” 

Cold eyes swept up and down Jason's form as he mulled this over, lingering on the younger man's face and arms for just a moment or two before he gave a slight nod. “Alright. But wash your hands first, you’re disgusting.”

“You know you like it, gorgeous.”

“In your dreams, Todd.”

His only answer was a wink.


End file.
